What does kosher mean?
Judaism in Five Minutes - Sarah Imhoff
Nora Rubel [+]
University of Rochester
Nora Rubel is the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor in Jewish Studies and Chair of the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. She is the author of Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination (CUP 2009), co-editor of Religion, Food and Eating in North America (CUP 2014), and Blessings Beyond the Binary: Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family (Rutgers University Press 2024), and is currently completing a monograph entitled Recipes for the Melting Pot: The Lives of The Settlement Cook Book.
Description
Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, prohibits certain foods including, but not limited to, pork, shellfish, and certain birds. These laws stem from biblical texts and are observed for various reasons, including religious obligation and cultural identity. Kashrut involves specific slaughter methods, food preparation practices, and even separate utensils for meat and dairy. Additionally, some Jews adhere to stricter levels of kashrut, depending on the religious authority figures they follow.